Two-dimensional image content is the mainstream of content, such as movies, but recently, stereoscopic image content enabling stereoscopic viewing has been attracting attention.
A dedicated device is necessary for displaying a stereoscopic image. An example of such a device for stereoscopic viewing includes an IP (Integral Photography) stereoscopic image system developed by NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai).
Image data of a stereoscopic image is composed of image data of a plurality of viewpoints (image data of an image captured from a plurality of viewpoints). As the number of viewpoints is larger and as the range covered by the viewpoints is wider, a subject can be viewed from more various directions. That is, as sort of “television in which subject can be looked into” can be realized.
Among stereoscopic images, an image with the smallest number of viewpoints is a stereo image (so-called 3D image) in which the number of viewpoints is two. The image data of the stereo image is composed of data of a left image, which is an image observed by a left eye, and data of a right image, which is an image observed by a right eye.
On the other hand, content of a high-resolution image, such as movies, has a large data amount, and thus a large-capacity recording medium is necessary for recording content having such a large data amount.
An example of such a large-capacity recording medium includes a Blu-Ray (registered trademark) Disc (hereafter, also referred to as BD), such as a BD (Blu-Ray (registered trademark))-ROM (Read Only Memory).